What Does Pending Mean in Real Estate? The Ultimate Guide

The “pending structure” has a different interpretation. Pending in real estate can imply different meanings. It simply means that a buyer submitted an offer and the seller accepted. This means that the home is basically sold, but the deed and title haven’t passed on yet. 

A real estate agent who is doing real estate marketing or even a buyer or seller needs to know them.

What Does Pending in Real Estate Mean?

We are looking for new properties on social media. You can say that social media for real estate is a big chance. When you’re perusing real estate listings, and finally you find it.

The perfect house is inside your laptop. It’s in the right location, which has the amenities you’re looking for, and still, somehow, fits in your budget. There’s just one problem; It’s a sale pending. But what does sale pend mean exactly? Are you too late, or do you still have a shot?

The short answer, if a home you love is pending sale, don’t give up hope. You could still be the golden buyer.

Pending in Real Estate Has Different Styles

Anybody who wants to be a successful realtor should have deep knowledge of different aspects. If you want to get your real estate license, these terminologies can be helpful, as well.

When we are going to consider pending in real estate, we need to know it thoroughly. In other words, the interpretation of pending can be clarified by understanding the terminology.

Option Pending in Real Estate

There is a difference between pending real estate and Option Pending. Pending means, they are out of the Option Period to back out of the contract due to repairs. It means if there were any problems, the seller and the buyer have worked through them, and pending is the last stage before they close.

However, Option Pending means that the transaction obeys the Option Period. Through the Option Period, the buyer has the right to terminate the contract for any reason. Therefore, during this period, the buyer usually has inspections done on the house and negotiates repairs (if any) for items noted on the inspection report.

You should know that the length of the Option Period is negotiable, but it is usually 10 days long. Additionally, the Option Period can be extended if both the buyer and seller agree to an extension. Once the Option Period ends, the status of the listing changes to pending.

Pending in Real Estate Versus Contingent

These two strategies toward buying and selling properties are different from each other. In real estate, the contingent is a situation indicating that the seller has accepted a buyer’s offer that includes contingencies. In other words, the buyer needs to meet specific requirements for the sale to close.

If the buyer is unable to meet the contingencies, then they can back out of the agreement with their earnest money in hand. Therefore, a seller needs to be careful. Since this scenario would force the process of selling the home back to square one. Thus, it’s safe to say that the word contingent is not your friend.

In other words, you have to understand that all the way until the very last day before we close on your house, the buyer can cancel. And most likely, the way most of our contracts read, they could get their deposit back.

If a property is pending, the provisions on a contingent property were successfully met and the sale is being processed.

In other words, When the offer has been accepted, and all that’s left is the final paperwork and closing, the status switches to pending.

Therefore, you need to consider the process when you are doing a real estate business.

Pending Versus Under Contract

The contract that we are going to have, can be in two ways. This contract can be pending or under contract.

Active Under Contract is for properties that have an accepted contract and the seller has instructed their agent to keep marketing and showing the property in an effort to obtain a backup offer.

Therefore, properties with an accepted contract may allow the seller to terminate the current contract in favor of a backup contract.

On the other hand, for properties that have an accepted contract and the seller has instructed the listing, the broker can keep marketing the property in an effort to secure a backup contract, regardless of their ability to terminate the current contract.

However, pending is for properties that have an accepted contract. Besides, the seller has instructed their agent to cease marketing and/or showing the property. This property may still have normal contractual conditions.

Pending, Lender-Approval

This quality of pending has another meaning. The seller has an accepted offer but is waiting to see if the buyer’s bank will agree to it. If not, it could end up back on the market. Therefore, you can go ahead and inquire if you’re interested in this property.

How Long Does It Take for A House to Go from Pending to Sell?

Honestly speaking, it is a difficult time to tolerate. It is not an easy question to answer. However, typically if a buyer is getting a loan, the total under contract time is about 30 to 60 days. On the other hand, if a buyer is paying cash, the closing can take place in as little as a week.

Depending on what terms each party is trying to meet, the pending time can differ. Besides, how straightforward they are, can be an important issue.

On the other hand, if the contract close date is delayed for funding or repair issues, the pending status would continue until there’s a resolution or the contract is terminated. This can go on for a long time.

Generally speaking, pending offers tend to last anywhere between a week and two months on average. Furthermore,  delays may happen in any contract. 

All in all

Being familiar with different terminology in an industry is necessary. In this article, we tried to explain pending in real estate. As you could see, we clarified different terms related to pending. We explained those terms and compared them with pending in real estate.